nonamecreek

Where I live I see 2 - 3 coops a month just from my backyard. When sharpies show up, 3 - 4 times a year, I still can't tell them from coops but for size. Perhaps we are seeing more than we think? A large female sharpie can weigh almost as much as a small male coop.

I think you're right. I'm just learning. Streaking are streaking 'til ya see it differently. I just learned about commas and dark patagial underwing markings as definitive for red-tailed; I've been just looking at tails all these years. Too, I just noticed the red-shouldered in the pic I posted from allaboutbirds.org has light eyes; perhaps not yellow, but light. 😃

Okay, I can go with the shadowed eye. Thanks! Not so sure about the spots or barring thing though (see pic from allaboutbirds.org below). Seeing as this is Texas, I'm thinking B. l. texanus, and I've seen them, I live here, looking, at least to me, streaked, though it seems to extend onto the belly and the bird in pics 1 & 2 doesn't. I'm confused about pale eyebrows too. Like the pale eyebrows in pics 5 & 6? I agree on your assessment of the b & w wing checkering.

Great. Thanks! Three confirmations and one dis-confirmation. I can see Cooper's for the first two pics. If the eyes were lighter and it didn't have, to me, a more robust buteo look, which I guess could be due to fluffed-up feathers, I'd have settled on Coop. Would you guys mind giving some info as to what excluded RSHA for you?

Awoke this morning to hawk pictures on Nextdoor. All pictures were supposedly taken in the Round Rock, TX area. I'm seeking confirmation, or dis-confirmation, of my guesses... Pictures 1 & 2 were taken yesterday: Most of my neighbors are saying this is a Sharpie or Coopers. I'm thinking with the darker eyes and barrel chest immature RSHA. Picture 3: Don't know when this was taken. I love this shot! I'm thinking RTHA. Pictures 4, 5 & 6: Love these shots too. Supposedly taken in October. That seems a little late for Crepe Myrtle to be blooming. Too, the photographer said she was photographing two bluejays at a nest when this hawk flew in. October is a whole lot late for bluejays to be nesting, right? Anyway, I'm thinking immature Coopers. Picture 7: Don't know when this was taken. I suspect Winter given the bare flora and Christmas lights. The photographer says the bird is eating a pork chop that he gave to it. I'm thinking RTHA.

Agreed. All immature.

For pics 4 & 5, the bird upper-left corner is likely red-tailed too.

I'm told by many others that red-shouldereds prey on birds often in many parts of the US. I've not seen such here in Central TX. Don't know about AL. I have seen red-tailed take a dove on the ground.

My guess is red-shouldered. Here in Central TX they hunt behind my home regularly. When one, or a mated pair, come in my feeder birds: cardinals, sparrows, finches, WWDO, MODO, starlings, etc. just go about what they were doing before arrival. A coop of sharpie? Scatter city, except, maybe, on occasion, a WWDO will just sit still, mid-city tree, and the accipiter misses it. Dumb dove or dumb raptor?